


Alt-Vos Saga Appendix 2: The Exile's Tower

by Gemma_Inkyboots, raisedbymoogles



Series: Alt-Vos Saga [7]
Category: Transformers Generation One
Genre: F/F, F/M, Family Trees, M/M, Multi, Other, supplemental material, who are these wingnuts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-10
Updated: 2016-04-10
Packaged: 2018-06-01 12:58:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,887
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6520690
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gemma_Inkyboots/pseuds/Gemma_Inkyboots, https://archiveofourown.org/users/raisedbymoogles/pseuds/raisedbymoogles
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Meet the Exiles: artists, dancers, scientists, parents, and all around a much nicer bunch to hang out with than the Highest Family. ...admittedly that's not saying much. From Nightlight to Helios, meet the entire crew, learn who's trined with whom with which sparklings underpede and what Sigma powers to watch out for. :D</p>
            </blockquote>





	Alt-Vos Saga Appendix 2: The Exile's Tower

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally a guide we wrote for ourselves for _From the Ashes,_ so the details seen here are a little bit in the future from when _Crown of Cybertron_ is set. Some of the sparklings haven't been born yet, and some don't have their real names yet. We'll make a note of this when we get to them. ;)
> 
> Edit: SORRY! Pictures are currently broken. I'm working on finding an alternate storage solution.

**Nightlight** \- Nightlight was hiding from his unbearable siblings when he stumbled upon Skydance and Thundersong having a picnic. The two invited him to join them and were actually _nice_ to him, which blew Nightlight's mind really a lot. ...the favor was returned when he wincingly revealed he was Highest Family. Luckily 'Song and 'Dance didn't hold it against him, and a trine was forged. Later when Nightlight returned from Parts Unknown _in a family way,_ the two took it upon themselves to introduce him around to some of their artist buddies who were already raising sparklings, so he could see how it was done outside the Highest Tower. The rest, as they say, is in the fic.  
_Colors: blue optics, white plating with red and blue accents._

 **Thundersong** \- Singer by profession: can split his voice into up to six different harmonies with himself. This isn't a Sigma power, all Vosian singers can be trained to do it to some extent, but 'Song's talent had earned him the moniker 'the Darling of Sunrise Gate.'  
_Colors: Violet optics, gold plating with white and black accents._

 **Skydance** \- His creators died when he was little, leaving him to wander into the rafters of the Dance Tower and just kind of grow up there. It was a bit of a mishmash education, but Skydance taught himself to dance well enough to earn a scholarship position in the Dance Tower's junior troupe. Jack of all trades and journeyman of several. He also picked up painting, as if dance didn't take up enough of his time - now he's a light- and weld-sculptor in addition to working with textiles and really whatever strikes his fancy.  
_Colors: Red optics, white plating with green and orange accents._

 **Dash** \- Groundframe sparkling of the Exile, apple of his carrier's eye and darling of pretty much everyone he meets save the Highest Family, but nuts to them anyway. Dash likes imaginative play, art projects with lots of glitter, and high things to jump from to practice his flight tech. His greatest skill so far is making friends. With _everyone_ he meets, no matter how prickly (Drift), fearsome (Megatron), or indeed invisible-to-most-optics (Prowl, looking a bit perturbed).  
_Colors: Red and yellow plating, blue optics._

*

**Fly-by-Night** \- Director of Intelligence in Vos until he chooses loyalty to Nightlight over loyalty to the Winglord and flees Vos with the rest of the Exiles. A thoughtful mech of few words, very shrewd. Fly-by-Night has found a solid working partnership with Safeguard, Nightlight's bodyguard and Fly-by's former subordinate, and Shimmersea, Sparkbearer and flourishing politician. His sparkling Haze was a 'surprise' baby, and Fly-by thought he could easily handle both his career and parenthood... until Haze actually came along. Babies and schedules don't mix. At least this one doesn't.  
_Colors: Red visor, dark gray plating with burgundy accents._

 **Haze** \- Dash's best friend and sometime big-sibling, though Dash is usually the ringleader when they're getting into mischief. Haze has inherited hir parent's calm and thoughtful nature, and knew hir true name remarkably early.  
_Colors: Red optics, yellow plating with light gray accents._

*

**Aurora** \- A light-sculptor by trade, she's close friends with Radiant and Bubblebomb. She likes markets and fabric crafts, though she has yet to figure out how to make a fabric craft of her own that she's happy with. Bonded to Countdown.  
_Colors: Red optics, pink and blue plating with gold and white accents._

 **Countdown** \- An architect and foremech, Countdown barely slowed down enough to carry his and Aurora's trine of sparklings. Countdown had a large hand in the plans for redeveloping the buildings in Little Vos, meaning that while the basic structure is still very Praxian - fractal rooms arranged in a spiral with sleeping spaces at the center - the large external windows and collonades are all Vosian. The fusion of styles eventually won an award for architectural interest.  
_Colors: Red optics, light gray plating with bright yellow and neon green hazard stripes on his wings and yellow accents._

 **Shimmer, Cloudrunner and Bolt** \- very tiny at this point in things. Awfully cute though.

 

*

**Bubblebomb** \- Bubblebomb is loud, vivacious and irrepressible. She's a natural performer and an inventive one, too - her Sigma ability is that she can create tiny weightless bubbles that she can then move around and control, which she generally fills with paint and glitter and other things to make art - anything from statues to paint-spatter canvases. She's very close to Radiant and Rocket, and her twin lilluns are Blueshift [sparkling name: Snuggles] and Neutrino [sparkling name: Zippy]. Her spark is exceptionally strong, which meant that her 'twins' aren't split-sparks like Featherfall and Dovetail, but instead two separate spark-seeds that split off independently from each other and both developed to maturity quite happily.  
_Colors: Yellow optics, VERY HELLACIOUSLY PINK plating, blue and white accents._

 **Blueshift/Snuggles** \- Blueshift and his sibling Neutrino aren't spark twins, but they're still very close. He's sweet, enthusiastically cheerful and loves hugs, being very tactile.  
_Colors: Blue optics, light blue plating with white and dark blue accents._

 **Neutrino/Zippy** \- Neutrino's Sigma power is that ei's fast. Ridiculously fast. Watch out, Blurr, you have a tiny admirer.

Watch out, Starscream, ei might be faster than you when ei's older.  
_Colors: Blue optics, turquoise paint with black accents._

*

**Shimmersea** \- One of the older Exiles, Shimmersea has served the noble houses of Vos as a Sparkbearer - a high-class, well-paid surrogate carrier - for long enough to want a slagging break. She's poised, well-read, has impeccable manners, and still thinks Iaconian tableware is ridiculous. Years of navigating the daggers-drawn social scene of the Vosian elite left her well prepared to run rings around the Iaconian elite, which she takes great delight in doing to Nightlight's benefit. She's been surprised to get close enough to Fly-by-Night and Safeguard to form a working partnership, but doesn't regret it in the slightest.  
_Colors: Gold optics, deep purple paint with a shimmery gold overlay._

 **Featherfall/Dawn** \- A very observant youngling and perhaps a touch sensitive to spirits and the unseen, Featherfall is a potential future seer now that she lives in Praxus where seers are more of a Thing. With her sister, she's also shaping up to be an accomplished singer.  
_Colors: lilac optics, light gray plating with white accents._

 **Dovetail/Dusk** \- Equally as observant and empathic as her sister, but directs it more towards sparks still living. Studious and serious with everything except singing, which always makes her smile. May well go on to follow in her carrier's political footsteps.  
_Colors: lilac optics, cream plating with gray accents._

*

**Rocket** \- Singlehandedly raising a trine of lilluns after the deaths of your trine-partners would be difficult enough, but Rocket is a stunt flier by trade - a profession that leaves even less time for parenting and little in the way of stability. The Exile's Tower was a blessing and relief for her as much as Nightlight, and it was here that she formed a strong bond with Bubblebomb. She gets paid irregularly but in large lumps, so she helps Bubblebomb out in rent in exchange for Bubblebomb babysitting her bittytrine.  
_Colors: Red optics, sky-blue plating with white and red accents._

 **Windracer/Dance, Tearaway/Spin, and Firestorm/Jump** \- too bitty at this point to get up to much.

*

**Resonance** \- Resonance is Radiant's trinesib. He's quieter than his sister but just as charming, well-spoken and accomplished. He worked as a surveyor and piloted surveying crafts in Vos, and helped Countdown with the design side of the reconstruction work on Little Vos after moving to Praxus. The resultant fusion of styles eventually won an award for architectural interest.  
_Colors: Gold optics, grey and white paint with purple accents._

 **Radiant** \- Trinesib to Resonance, carrier to Helios and UTTERLY FABULOUS, DAAAAAAAAHLING. A fabric crafter and steelsilk-smith, basically the equivalent of a combination fashion designer and jeweler. The primped and polished exterior hides a generous spark and a ferocious mama-bear side that Nightlight has benefited from more than once and tries to emulate. The most likely to talk smack on Starscream. Her Sigma gift is a bright flash of light emanating from her plating, capable of shorting out optics or acting as a nightlight for sparklings, depending on how much she likes you. ;)  
_Colors: Gold optics, white and purple plating._

 **Helios** \- Very sensitive to the spirit world, to the point where he has trouble coping with the real one. Which is something we officially don't know yet (at the point of _Crown of Cybertron_ ), because he is still Very Tiny.

*

**Medley** \- Medley is quiet, thoughtful and usually can be found trying to calm down Tempo, who is not. Any of those things. Medley writes songs that make both Tempo's and Swansong's talents shine. As the quiet one and the only one that doesn't perform, Medley is easily overlooked by those outside the trine, but no matter how loud or theatrical Tempo and Swansong get she's always in the background looking out for them.  
_Colors: Blue optics, mint green plating with dark green and sky blue accents._

 **Tempo** \- Percussionist and conductor, and the carrier of their little trine of sparklings. Tempo is loud, dramatic and usually carrying something that clatters, which means zie's a favorite with the little ones. Very active, doesn't like sitting down for long, and a bit of a temper, often on behalf of zir friends when the Highest Family does something that makes life harder for them.  
_Colors: Red optics, bottle green plating with black and white accents._

 **Swansong** \- Silk dancer, and Tempo's main competition for the spotlight. Likes wearing bold face paint, which also makes eir a big hit with the little ones. Likes opera. Especially the overwrought dramatic ones where everyone takes half an hour to die at the end. In turns. Secretly dreams of starring in an opera and taking a _whole hour_ to die. (Medley's working on it.)  
_Colors: Red optics, white plating with black and orange accents._

 **Sidestep/Tiny, Sashay/Bitty, and Swing/Bablet** \- Also too bitty to get up to much. They were decanted right before the Exiles' flight from Vos, and there was some worry that the stress would inhibit the development of their flight systems.

*

  
**Lifter** \- Transport worker and carrier of Boomer a.k.a. Boo. A solid, sensible type, one of the biggest frames in the Exile's Tower, close to shuttle-sized. Goes utterly goopy over tinybits, especially eir own. When Boomer brings home Redwing and Comet ei will _adopt them immediately._  
_Colors: Red optics, green and black plating with neon yellow hazard strips._

 **Boomer/Boo** \- A cheery toddlebit at this point, Boomer will grow up to be a skilled sound technician and trinemate to Redwing and Comet. She also has the Sigma gift of concussion-soundwaves, which makes tantrums a pain in the aft.  
_Colors: Red optics, green plating with yellow accents._

 **Snowstorm** \- You know the pointy-haired boss in the Dilbert comics? That's Snowstorm. He's not actually an Exile, he's currently living in Vos making life a low-level grinding misery for everyone who has to report to him. We don't like Snowstorm. He sucks. (This is an AU version of the Snowstorm that shows up in _Dipolemacy_.)  
_Colors: Red optics, white plating with dark slate-blue accents._

 **Comet** \- Sweet, easily-distracted tinybit who will grow up to be a sweet, easily-distracted trinemate to Boomer and Redwing. Comet tends to view the world on a diagonal slant from most processors, which is probably why there's so little of his carrier's rotten attitude in him.  
_Colors: Blue optics, light gray plating with pink accents._

 **Lacewing** \- Entomologist by trade. Lacewing's generally a genial sort but she's focused on insect life to the exclusion of all else except possibly her sparkling, Redwing a.k.a. Buglet. It's a good thing she's living in Little Vos now, so there are more optics looking out for her little one. Originally she worked in Vos, but there aren't too many interesting bugs there, so she transferred to Tarn - only to be herded out when Buglet came along.  
_Colors: Yellow optics, pale green plating with white accents._

 **Redwing/Buglet** \- In the near future, Redwing is an excitable, adorable 'everything-nerd' who gets along with most people. Enthusiastically trined up with Boomer and Comet when ei gets big and returns to Vos, a city ei has never been. For now, though, ei's just cheery, curious Buglet.  
_Colors: Blue optics, pink plating with mint green and dark green accents._

*

**Flyaway, Sunshower, and Merriweather** \- The cloud-seeder trine, they're basically inseparable and played an indispensable role in the Exiles' flight from Vos. Sunshower's the quiet one, Merri dabbles in chemistry and likes playing with little ones, and Flyaway's happiest when she's in the air. Merri is the carrier for their little trine of bits, who are so new they don't even have names yet. So, uh, pretend you didn't see the above chart. ;)  
_Colors: Sunshower - blue optics, yellow plating with blue, white, and gray accents. Merriweather - yellow optics, lilac paint, pink and white accents. Flyaway - Red optics, blue plating with pink and yellow accents._

*

**Lightstorm** \- Electrician: did the wiring in the Little Vos buildings. Besties with Fireflash, as they share an interest in special effects and making things go boom in pretty colors.  
_Colors: yellow optics, black plating with yellow accents._

 **Firefly** \- Background lillun.  
_Colors: yellow optics, deep green plating with yellow accents._

*

**Fireflash** \- Fireflash is a special effects expert and a professional pyromaniac. Ei has no Sigma powers, but seeing some of the things ei creates might make you think otherwise. Ei is going to be absolute besties with Wheeljack if they ever get to meet up in canon.  
_Colors: Red optics, black paint with red and orange highlights._

 **Masquerade** \- Masque is a costume designer and artist for the dance tower in Sunrise Gate. She carried Flare, Dazzler and Jubilee for her trine and ran to Praxus with them after Starscream's Vosian War Academy made conscription for fliers with Sigma abilities law.  
_Colors: Red optics, black and white harlequin pattern paint, red accents._

**Mimic** \- started out as a performance artist in Vos, with a knack for copying voices and doing impressions. (It is not a Sigma power thank you so much; it terrified her for a long time that their trine's littles would have been dragged into the War Academy and away from them. It's not a subject she laughs about anymore.) When they came to Praxus she didn't have much spark for entertaining anymore, floundering a little after the art show that the new inhabitants of Little-Vos-to-be put on for their new neighbours, but she started working on reception for the main Temple and is still surprised at how much she's enjoying it. She still does impressions and silly voices to entertain her family, though.  
_Colors: Yellow optics, black and grey paint with white accents._

**Dazzler/Sparkle** \- Dazzler's Sigma abilities are light-and-sound based, which makes eir very hard to ignore and very hard to chase if eir pursuers can't see eir. Eir's most likely going to go on to work in the performing arts like eir parent trine; eir loves singing and being the centre of attention.  
_Colors: Blue optics, white paint, metallic spangle overlay._

 **Flare/Shine** \- Flare was decanted just before the conscription of all Vosians with Sigma abilities into the War Academy. His parent trine ran to Praxus to keep him and his siblings safe. Flare's Sigma power is similar to that of his sibling Jubilee - Flare shoots single bolts of bright, electrically-charged light from his hands.  
_Colors: Red optics, black paint, pink and purple highlights._

 **Jubilee/Sunny** \- Jubilee's visor is fairly unique amongst Vosians, most of whom have the single set of standard optics or, more rarely, an optic band. Yes, it's an integrated part of her face, and no, you can't try and see if it comes off. Jubilee's Sigma ability is bright and flashy, which suits her perfectly - bright fireworks that light up the sky but carry no heat.  
_Colors: Pink visor, yellow paint, pink and blue accents._

*

**Catena** \- Geologist. Quiet, easygoing, utterly delighted that Terra wants to work with Praxian crystals.  
_Colors: Blue optics, green and brown plating._

 **Caldera** \- Blacksmith who did the ironwork shutters for Little Vos. Large, strong-framed, carried a mini-forge from Vos to Praxus and did the smelting for Radiant's steelsilk. She was very pleased to have that recipe at last, thankyouverymuch. Carrier for Terra, Moonburst and Sunspot.  
_Colors: Yellow optics, dull red plating._

 **Terra, Moonburst and Sunspot** \- The only younglings that are old enough to start looking for their first apprenticeships by the end of _Crown of Cybertron._ Terra wants to work with the Praxian crystal-growers, Sunspot might get into stunt flying with Rocket, and Moonburst is still thinking about it.  
_Colors: Terra - Green optics, sandy-yellow plating, black and gray accents; Sunspot - red optics, yellow plating, red and orange accents; Moonburst - deep blue optics, silvery plating, white accents._

*

**Safeguard** \- Assigned by Fly-by-Night to be Nightlight's sole guard and servant after his exile from the Highest Tower, Safeguard became one of Nightlight's most valued and dependable friends. (Fly-by-Night may have had an ulterior motive here.) Freed from the strict heirarchy and protocol of Vos, Safeguard has forged a strong working relationship with Shimmersea and Fly-by-Night, the latter of whom ei can't quite break the habit of addressing as eir superior.  
_Colors: Red optics, gray plating with dashes of red, white and blue to denote that ei works (worked) for the Highest Family._

*


End file.
